BJP retains HP seats, Cong shines in Punjab; CPI(M) loses Kerala bastion
RESULTS Bypolls were mostly necessitated after sitting MLAS got elected to the LS in May
THE RULING-NDA IN BIHAR CAME OUT WITH A DISMAL PERFORMANCE IN THE BY-ELECTIONS TO 5 ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS
NEWDELHI: Results of bypolls to 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies, held across 17 states and a Union Territory, started coming in by evening. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies held nearly 30 of the assembly seats, while the Congress had 12 and regional parties the rest.the bypolls were mostly necessitated after sitting legislators got elected to the Lok Sabha in May.
In Arunachal, Independent candidate Chakat Aboh registered a victory from Khonsa West constituency. According to the Election Commission of India, Aboh won with a margin of 1,886 votes against her nearest rival, also an independent nominee. Aboh is the wife of National People’s Party (NPP) leader Tirong Aboh who was killed dead in May when his convoy was ambushed by suspected National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) terrorists.
Assam held bypolls on four assembly seats. Of the results already out, Bijoy Malakar of the BJP defeated his nearest rival Keshab Prasad Rajak of the Congress in Ratabari constituency. The saffon party was also leading on two seats while the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) candidate was ahead on one till the time of going to press.
The ruling-national Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar came out with a dismal performance in the by-elections to five assembly segments. The results of four seats were out. Of those, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won two seats while Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) sprung a surprise in Kishanganj. One seat went to an Independent while another Independent candidate was leading on the remaining seat.
In Chhattisgarh, the ruling Congress won the Chitrakote assembly bypoll. Congress’s Rajman Benzam won the bypoll from the Maoist-affected constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes, against Lachhuram Kashyap of the BJP.
Of the six seats in Gujarat, two have gone to the Congress while the ruling BJP has won on one. The Congress won Bayad and Tharad seat of Banaskantha while the Kheralu seat of Mehsana went to the BJP. In the remaining three seats, the Congress was leading in two seats while the BJP was ahead in one while going to press. Congress candidate Jashu Patel defeated BJP’S Dhavalsinh Zala in Bayad seat of Aravalli by a margin of over 700 votes. Zala accepted his defeat and left the counting centre even before the results were declared by local election officials. The BJP was leading on three seats while the Congress was ahead on one at the time of going to the press.
In Himachal, the ruling BJP retained both the seats of Dharamshala and Pachhad. BJP candidate Vishal Nehriya won Dharamshala while Reena Kashyap won the Pachhad seat.
Five seats of Kerala had gone to polls. Of the four seats whose results were out, Congress got one, CPI(M) got two seats and the Indian Union Muslim League ( I U ML) o n e . T h e ruling CPI(M)-LED Left Democratic Front (LDF) registered impressive wins at Vattiyoorkavu and Konni, the two strongholds of the Congress-headed UDF, while the opposition front retained the Ernakulam seat and won from the marxist bastion of Aroor. Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Prasanth, who contested from Vattiyoorkavu, won with a margin of 14,465 votes against Congress’ K Mohankumar, while KU Jinesh Kumar won from Konni with a margin of 9,953 votes.
In Madhya Pradesh, Kantilal Bhuria of Congress won the Jhabua ST seat defeating Bhanu Bhuria of BJP by over 27,000 votes.
In Odisha, one seat of Bijepur went to polls. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Rita Sahu clinched victory by a record margin of 97,990 votes. She also broke records by getting the highestever votes in an assembly election in the state.
The bypoll was necessitated after chief minister Naveen Patnaik vacated t he s eat and retained Hinjli after winning from two seats in the May 2019 assembly elections.
The lone Puducherry seat of Kamraj Nagar was retained by the Congress. Congress candidate A John Kumar bagged 7,170 votes more than his rival candidate Bouvanesvarane of All India NR Congress.
Four assembly seats went to polls in Punjab. Of those, three wen to the Congress while one to the Shiromani Akali Dal. The Congress won the Jalalabad, Phagwara and Mukerian seats and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) came up trumps in Dakha.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday hailed the Congress victory in the assembly bypolls and termed the SAD defeat in Jalalabad as the rejection of their “negative agenda”.
“The Akalis clearly failed to learn a lesson from their previous electoral defeats and continued to engage in negative campaigning, including the politicisation of religion,” Amarinder Singh said, adding that their defeat in Sukhbir Badal’s “self-proclaimed stronghold” of Jalalabad was a “total rejection of their negative agenda”.
People had made it clear that there was no place for the parties who did not work for their welfare, he said in a statement here after the Congress emerged victorious in Phagwara, Mukerian and Jalalabad assembly segments.
Of Rajasthan’s two seats, one each was won by the Congress and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party. While Congress candidate Rita Chaudhary won the Mandawa bypoll, Khinwsar went to Rashtriya Loktantrik Party’s Narayan Beniwal.
Three seats in Sikkim assembly had gone to polls on October 21. Of those, two went to the BJP and the remaining to Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM). SKM candidate and chief minister Prem Singh Tamang swept to victory in Poklok-kaamrang while BJP candidates won from Martam-rumtek and Gangtok.
Two seats had gone to polls in Tamil Nadu. The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( AIADMK) won bot h Vikravandi and Nanguneri seats by huge margins.
In the Parliamentary bypolls in Bihar and Maharashtra, Lok Jan Shakti Party won the lone seat in Bihar while the NCP won the seat in Maharashtra.